Code for sustainable homes

Following the technical housing standards review, the Government has issued a written ministerial statement withdrawing the Code for Sustainable Homes, aside from the management of legacy cases.

The Code for Sustainable Homes was the voluntary national standard for the sustainable design and construction of new homes. It aimed to reduce carbon emissions and promote higher standards of sustainable design above the current minimum standards set out by the building regulations.

The Code provided nine measures of sustainable design:

energy/CO2

water

materials

surface water runoff (flooding and flood prevention)

waste

pollution

health and well-being

management

ecology

This policy was withdrawn on 27 March 2015.

Following the technical housing standards review, the Government has issued a written ministerial statement withdrawing the Code for Sustainable Homes, aside from the management of legacy cases.

Legacy cases are:

those where residential developments are legally contracted to apply a Code policy (e.g. affordable housing funded through the National Affordable Housing Programme 2015 to 2018, or earlier programme)

where planning permission has been granted subject to a condition stipulating discharge of a Code level, and developers are not appealing the condition nor seeking to have it removed or varied

In these instances only it is possible to continue to register Code cases and conduct Code assessments.

Details of the new approach to the setting of technical housing standards in England were announced on 27 March 2015 and a new set of streamlined national technical standards were published.

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